Bashar al-Assad

President Bashar al-Assad has attempted to distance himself from the army, in an interview with ABC News. He said of the army: "I don't own them. I'm president. I don't own the country, so they're not my forces." He denied there was any order to kill protesters, saying: "no government in the world kills its people". He also said he did not feel guilty about attacks on protesters because he had done his best.